Nursing bottle



April 17, 1956 E. A. PANETTI NURSING BOTTLE Filed Nov. 25, 1955 INVENTOR.

ElZNE'ST A. PANET1'\ 4 ATTO2NEY5 components with the container in 2,742,168 l Patented Apt; 1: 3 1- 5 2,742,168 NURSING BOTTLE I 5 Ernest A. Panetti, Downingtown, Pa. Application November 25, 1 955, S erial No, 548,938 5 Claims. cl, 215-11 5 This; inventionrelates tofnui sing. bottles, and more particularly has reference to;v avalve means insertable into a, I a bottle of this type,'designed to insure.a,steady flow of milk regardless of the position'of the'bo ttle.

,- In many instances, thesteady flow of liquid, from a nursing bottle is stopped, duetog'the presence of a partial vacuum Within the bottle. or to .othercauses, including tiltingofthe bottleinwhichthe, nipple, is at, a higherelevation, thanthe lower end thereof, sons to, no longer be filled with. milk flowing, into the same from the main portion of, the bottle.

,Under these. circumstances, not only, must frequent out plastic in a preferred embodimentfof the invention. Tube 22 extends approximately half the length of the con,- t ainer, in closely spaced, parallel relation to the longitu dinalicenterline of said container. At its outlet end, tube; 22 is threaded into a complementarily threaded opening 24 formed in disc 12,. At its inlet end the tubehas a lateral extension 26 communicating freelyjwith the midz-L length portion of an inlet tube 28. extending; parallel .to the tube 22 at the opposite side of said longitudinalicentetline. i t

At its opposite ends, the inlet tube hascheck valve aslsemblies, said assemblies being .of ,separable'constru'ction to facilitate cleaning of thecomponent parts of the device.

One of, said assemblies includes an elongated-,cylindrical; valve housing having rounded e'nds one of which is formed 1 by a cup-like enlargement 30 formed on tube 28 and; threadedfor engagement withav mating, cup-like enlarge ment 32. Enlargement 32'isrformed; on one-end 'ofqan' end section 34 of the inlet tube, and said section 34 at its:

inlet end is disposed, in closely spaced relation todisc 12; There is thus defined an elongated chamben36' for a.

globular check valve element 38. adapted to seat in a tube- 'attentionbegiven-to the infant to insure thatthere isa substantially, continuous flow of milk, but further, the

infant may tend to swallow, air, causing discomfort'and', inmanyinstances, a colic condition.

The main object of the present invention is to provide an m d v cs n rt b e in a ne ll nv n i na nursing bottle, having checkvalves at opposite ends of A an inlet tube: connected in, communication with a main,

tube extending. to the nipple, said check; valves being so arrangedas to insure a flow of milk intothe main tube regardless of the bottle position.

Another; object is, to provide a device, as stated which can, be readily disassentliled to facilitate cleaning and sterilizing thereof.

A further object of importance-is tosojform the device I as to permit, it to bevused inasso ciation with a conventional glass nursing bottle, andwith aconventional nipple.

Other objects 7 will appear fromthe following description, the claims appendedthereto, and fromthe annexed drawing in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several, views, and wherein;

Figure l is-a,-longitudinal sectional view through a nurs,-,

ing bottle formed according to the present invention, in which the battle is in annprightposition; i a Figure 2 is atransverse section;on line.2 +2- of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal; secti nal view, on, a reduced scale inwhich the bottle is inclined with the nipple project:

. Figure 4 is a-,vi ew like Figure 31in ,which-the bottle is.

ullya vertq ra d Figure 5 is a view like inclined with the nipplei projectin'gz.downwardly.

At 10 there has been designated a transparent container comprisinga conventional component of a nursing bottle. Container 10 has a large diameter mouth, closed by a disc 12 of plastic material. Threadable onto the neck of the container is a retaining ring 14 also of plastic material having an inwardly directed peripheral flange 16 bearing against the outwardly directed circumferential flange 13 of a nipple 20. The retaining'band forces the nipple flange and the marginal part of the disc 12 against the adjacent end of the container, to sealably engage these 7 position closing the mouth thereof.

The device constituting the present invention includes an elongated, straight main tube 22 formed of a transpar- Figure in which the bottle is closingposition against .the base ofteithertenlargement :30,

32'respectively.

Themiddlesection of the inlettube, at its oppositeend,

for arsecond valve element 48;

l in the disc 12, there isformedasmallopening in which issea'tedja spring-loadedacheck valve 50, said element 50 controlling the admission of air to the inside oi the bottle" and being'normally biased to. a closed position. In use, and assuming for. example that the bottle is upright as inFigure 1, if the infant draws upon the nipple,

there will be initiallycreated a vacuum condition within the nipple, and this will causefa fiow of the liquid upwardly through the' lower'endsection 44. of the inl ettube, The valve element Mlwill; accordingly be-unsea'ted to pern mitthe passage ofvthe liquid through the lower portion-0f the inlet tube, and the liquid will now flow through the main tube into a nipple. The upper check valve element 38,. in'this position of the bottle will gravitate to a position closing theupper end of the inlet-tube. 1

If, the bottle is. tilted as in Figure 3. with the nipple stil "I facing upwardly, theoperation will be the same as in Figure 1. In other words, in every instance in which the nipple is at a level higher than that of: the remainingliquid in the bottle, the flow will be from the lower end of the inlet tube and thenceto the nipple. 1 i Y? be disposed within the liquidi Under these circurnstances,'=: .the'liquid' will flow into section 34, unseating valve element 38,- andwill thenfl'ow through, the main tube to the nippletgwith vjalvetelement A8 in afseated. position.

It will be understood, in this regard, that the check valve 50 opens automatically whenever necessary to admit.

air to the interior or" the bottle to replace liquid drawn out of the bottle while the infant is feeding. However, said air will under no circumstances enter the flow passage comprising the inlet and main tubes, due to the fact that that end of the inlet tube that is out of the liquid will always be closed by a check valve element. For example, in Figure 1 air tending to enter the inlet tube through section 34 will be prevented from doing so by the seated valve element 38. In Figure 5 the same functional characteristic obtains due to the seating of element 48 in the exposed condition of section 44.

The device, further, can be readily cleaned, since it can-be detachedin 'its entirety from disc 12 and then. separatedat the valve --housings to permit removal ofthe valve elements and the cleaning of all portions the inlet and main tubes.

I It is believed clear that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor changes in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

-What 'is' claimed is:

' 1. A nursing bottle comprising a container for a liquid; a disc adapted to close said container at one end; a nipple seating upon the disc; means holding the nipple and disc in scalable engagement with said end of the containerpian inlettube within the container having its oppositeends opening upon the interior of the container adjacent opposite ends of the container; check valve means 7 in the opposite end portions of the inlet tube so arranged portion of the inlet tube; and check valve means in the disc arranged to permit flow of air into said container.

2. A nursing bottle comprising a container for a liquid; a disc adapted to close said container at one end; a

nipple seating upon the disc; means'holding the nipple and'disc .in sealable engagement with said end of the container; an inlet tube within the container having its opposite ends opening upon the interior of the container adjacent opposite ends of the container; check valve means in the opposite end portions of the inlet tube so arranged that one of said means will admit liquid to the interior 'of said tube when the adjacent end of the inlet is immersed in the liquid with the other check valve means preventing the admission of airinto the other end of the inlet ,tube; a main tube freely communicating at its opposite ends between the interior of the nipple and the intermediate portion of the inlet tube; and check valve means in the disc arranged to permit flow of air into said container, said check valve means of the inlet tube comprising elongated valve housings communicating at opposite ends with adjacent portions of the inlet tube, said ends of the valve housings providing valve seats, and floating valve elements freely shiftable between opposite ends of said housings for engagement, in difierent positions to which the container is shifted, against the valve seats of the respective housings.

opening upon the interior of the container adjacent opposite ends of the container; check valve means in the opposite end portions ofthe'inlettube so arranged that one 7 of said means will admit liquid to the interior of said portion of the inlet tube; and check valve means in the disc arranged to permit flow of air into said container,

' said check valve means of the inlet tube comprising elongated valve housings communicating at opposite ends with adjacent portions of the inlet tube, said ends of the valve housings providing valve seats, and floating valve elements freely shiftable between opposite ends of said housings for engagement, in different positions to which the container is shifted, against the valve seats of the respective housings, said inlet tube being of sectional formation and being separable at locations intermediate the ends of the respective valve housings to facilitate removal of said valve elements and cleaning of the housings and tubes.

4. A nursing bottle comprising a container for aliquid;

- a disc adapted to close said container at one end; a nipple seating upon the disc; means holding the nipple and disc in scalable engagement with said end of the container; an inlet tube within the container having its opposite ends opening upon the interior of the container adjacent opposite ends of the container; check valve means in the opposite end portions of the inlet tube so arranged that one of said means will admit liquid to the interior of said tube when'the' adjacentend of the inlet is immersed in the liquid with the other check valveirneans preventing the admission of .air into the other end of the inlet tube; a main tube freelycommunicating at its opposite ends between theinterior of the nipple and the intermediate portion of the inlet tube; and check valve means in the disc arranged to permit flow of air into said container,

the inlet tube and main tube extending in parallelism with each other and with the longitudinal center line of said container.

5. A nursing bottle comprising a container for a liquid; a disc'adapted to close said container at one end; a nipple seating upon the disc; means holding the nipple and disc in scalable engagement with said end of the container; an inlet tube within the container having its opposite ends opening upon the interior of the container adjacent opposite ends of the container; check valve means in the opposite end portions of the inlet tube so arranged that one of said means will admit liquid to the interior of said tube when the adjacent end of the inlet is immersed in the liquid with the other check valve means preventing the admission of 'air into the other end of the inlet tube; a main tube freely communicating at its opposite ends between the interior of the nipple and the intermediate portion of the inlet tube; and check valve means in the disc arranged to permit flow of air into said container, the inlet tube and main tube extending in parallelism with each other and with the longitudinal center line of said container, at opposite sides of said longitudinal center line.

No references cited. 

